


Guide Star

by weepingnaiad



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Community: cottoncandy_bingo, Finding home, Fluff, M/M, Stars, cotton candy bingo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-27
Updated: 2012-12-27
Packaged: 2017-11-22 16:21:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/611799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/weepingnaiad/pseuds/weepingnaiad
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><b>Summary:</b> Len's out in space and it finally dawns on him that he's home as long as he has Jim.<br/></p>
            </blockquote>





	Guide Star

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sangueuk](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sangueuk/gifts).



> **Beta:** As ever, my brain twin, and soul sister, abigail89, wrangled my words into something readable and coherent. I will never be able to convey my gratitude, bb. But, of course, I fiddle even after posting, so any mistakes are all on me.
> 
>  **A/N:** Fill for my Cotton Candy Bingo square: _Stars_. This little holiday tidbit is dedicated to my darling sangueuk, my captain, my sister, my _friend._ I love you, darlin'!
> 
>  **Disclaimer:** These are Paramount and Roddenberry's characters used in the spirit of creative commons. I promise to return them with smiles on.

Len leaned against the window, its transparent aluminum faintly warm to the touch, not cool as his stuttering brain warned him it should be. The disconnect was disconcerting, but Len forced himself to take one, long breath in, blowing it out silently. He opened his eyes wide and gazed in awestruck wonder at the vastness before him. How he ever believed that space was dark was beyond him. Not when he was confronted with a sky filled with roiling light and unimaginable colors. There was no darkness, here.

Light roared to life in great founts of fire and jets of colorful gas, too many colors to name at the beginning of all things. If he turned his eyes to the side, though still uneasy, he could view the impossibly brighter light of a star’s last gasp. Laser flares of white and platinum collided with deep violets and furious scarlets, shooting from the collapsing giant as though it was reaching for its newborn sibling to save it.

His gaze didn’t linger on the dying star. He didn’t like the pulsating flashes of light; found them jarring and unnerving. Instead he kept his eyes turned toward the birth of life, where a nascent star was winking into existence, its light soft and soothing warm where its dying sibling’s was frenetic and frigid.

Jim pressed a hand to Len’s back, whispering against his cheek, “Incredible, isn’t it?”

Len could only nod as he relaxed into Jim’s arms, let himself absorb the comfort as he observed the grandeur of a star nursery. This was exploring new worlds, new civilizations, going where no human had gone before. This was what Jim had been born into, what had fired his imagination all those years ago, fueled his restlessness and wanderlust. And now, when they were finally out here amidst it all, Len got it, too. He’d never be as comfortable as Jim with the dangers; he’d never allow himself to grow complacent. But he finally, at last, embraced the boundless wonders they encountered almost daily. Few were as gorgeous or as mesmerizing as the beginning and end of a star, but now that he'd been out in space for a few years Len could admit that he’d had more good times than bad (most of _those_ centered around Jim getting himself hurt).

Being on the Enterprise wasn’t the same as having his feet planted solidly on Earth, but he was man enough to admit that it had become home thanks to Jim and the crew that had become his family among the stars (and that, though he’d never admit it aloud, now included one pointy-eared, stoic bastard).

Len would forever deny that the spectacle before his eyes contributed to his next actions; he’ll admit that he _might_ have been a bit overcome, but that was as far as he was willing to bend. But he couldn’t deny that he turned his face toward Jim and kissed him, softly at first and then more firmly, deepening the kiss even as he twisted them, Jim’s back thudding quietly against the window.

When he pulled back, breathless and happy, he stared at the man he loved. Jim’s eyes were bright and shining, his face haloed by the majesty of creation. Impulsively yet surely, Len dropped to one knee, tugged his daddy’s class ring off his finger and held it out.

“Marry me, Jim?” he asked, words confident and sure.

Jim blinked, licked his lips, then gave Len the cocksure, wicked grin that could melt the ice on Delta Vega. “Thought you’d never ask, Bones.” Jim held out his hand and Len slipped the ring on his finger. It was overly large, but Jim just curled his fingers and held on.

Then it was Len’s turn to be tugged up, back hitting the window as Jim kissed him within an inch of his life.

It wasn’t where he planned to ask, but then again, the Enterprise wasn’t what he imagined home would feel like. The constant, soothing thrum of the engines under his soles was the only home he needed, as long as Jim was there at his side. His guide star.

The End


End file.
